The bureaucrats ruled it would be too dangerous for the festive hero to sit on top of a float that travels at walking pace.

His seat would be just 10ft off the ground.

Instead, they have demanded that a plastic Santa is used. The tour covers the local area in Sutton, south London, for three weeks during the festive season. Residents branded the ruling “ridiculous”, especially as the procession has raised more than £130,000 for charities since it started in 1966.

Parents say the grounding of Santa has taken the magic out of Christmas.

Mum-of-three Sara Palmer, 43, who has gone to see the float every year since she was a child, said it was a family tradition to visit the sleigh, and the float was the “highlight” of the season.

She added: “Not having him on top is ridiculous. The kids were like: ‘Where’s Santa?’

“It’s just taking the magic out of it, and they raise so much money for charity.”

An insurance firm willing to cover the float with Santa on top was found, but the Rotary Club still decided to scrap the tradition.

Jeff Jones, who used to organise the event, said he had intervened to try to get Santa back on board but could not force “a change of mind”.

He added: “It is ridiculous. Common sense has gone out of the window.”

Rotary Club organiser Stephen Cunningham, 52, of Wallington, Surrey, who has qualifications in health and safety, defended the decision to ban Santa.

He said: “From our point of view, it’s a serious matter. We didn’t take this decision light-heartedly.

“I work in the construction industry and I have an obligation to make sure everyone goes home safely every night.

“We have a new vehicle this year and someone proposed we had someone sitting on a chair bolted to the roof.

“But it is very dangerous, not only for us. So we said we couldn’t do that.

“Another Rotary Club somewhere else in the country had an accident.”

He said that health and safety had not been such a big issue in the past, and added: “You have to adapt to changing times.”